So You Think You Can Dance "Top 20 performance pt 2" 7/18/2012 *spoilers*

Interesting reveal from Nigel tonight: the contestants draw numbers and get to CHOOSE their style from the backstage board -- that may explain why we were seeing numbers tonight by people performing in their own styles.

I wasn't able to keep detailed notes tonight, so I won't post a recap now. In general, I would say that the performances seemed much stronger this week than last. And for me it is always MUCH more fun whenever Adam Shankman is on the judging panel.

It'll be interesting to see what order people go home this season.

More later.

__________________
"The capacity of human beings to disappoint me is never ending." -- Ereth

I really like the new process where they have one show a week. There's just not enough there to do a full hour show on "who's going home". Just tell us: no need for 55 minutes of dramatic lead up. Most excellent format change!

Liked the opening number but once again the camerawork frustrates me. It's annoying when there are only two dancers on the stage but it's completely infuriating when there are 20.

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Top 20 group number. "The Beautiful People (District 78 remix)"(Marilyn Manson)

I confess I spent the entire number trying to figure out which of the current choreographers was trying to channel Wade Robson. Was it Sonya? No, it was NappyTabs. Fun stuff, and well-danced, but it made me miss RamaLama.

Lindsay and Cole w/Christopher Scott: "Teeth" (Lady Gaga)
Nice performance from Cole, especially staying in character during the judges' notes. I agree with Nigel and Adam's comments. Not my favorite routine, but like Mary said, it was a fun way to start the show.

Amelia and Will w/Sonya Tayeh, "3326" (Ólafur Arnalds):
Nice to see Amelia get a slower piece of music, so she could have more of a chance to fill out the bars. I could see this one going on tour, and if it does, they'll just get better and better each time they do it. There's subtle stuff going on, hard to take it in all in one viewing. Definitely re-watchable. Liked Adam's comment about their size difference and how the disparity wasn't evident during the number.

Amber and Nick w/Miriam and Leonardo: "Tanguera" (Sexteto Mayor): Look at this -- more stuff where people get to dance in their own style (reason why to be revealed later). Nick seems like a good ballroom dancer, as far as the technique goes, and yet there's something lacking. He just doesn't draw the eye. Yes, it's ballroom, the guy has to be the frame for the girl, etc., but you can't be invisible. You have to have some presence of your own. And if Leonardo can't bring it out in him, that's not a good sign. Looks like Adam agrees with me. And Mary's right, the hard stuff is hard as crap and he makes it look easy, but he doesn't make it "OMG I can't believe he's making it look that easy" WOW easy. It's not like he's coasting, but there's something just not there. Look at the parts where they aren't moving, where they are apart from each other. The poses should be crisper and the movement should have some tension in it, and instead of being silky like a cat about to pounce, they're just too soft. Very frustrating.

Audrey and Matthew w/Sonya, "Hear Me Now (Dri, Lind and Likka Mix)" (Steed Lord): My, Audrey is bendy. Sonya, quit playing with your new toy and let the girl dance, okay? I like this routine and they danced it well, but I think they got the short end of the two-routines-in-a-week stick this week. For me, these two are still kind of neutral. I'm not going to groan when they come out to dance and I'm not going to cheer. I'm in the middle. I want to see what they can do -- especially, I want to see what else Audrey can do. We know she's got great lines and she can do the extensions that make us all go OUCH -- now what else can she do? I want more. And as for Adam's comments about Matthew -- I'm waiting to see if I agree. I need to see more.

Janelle and Darean w/ Christopher Scott, "My Girl" (The Temptations): hard to argue against the judges' comments on this one. Charming, enjoyable in the moment. Memorable? Probably not.

Kinda hard to establish a connection as a couple when the theme of the number is the guy trying to escape the girl. Nice character work. Fun number. Much more satisfying to watch than Sean's numbers from last week.

Eliana and Cyrus w/ Tony and Melanie, "I'm Shakin'" (Jack White)
Love Tony and Melanie's stuff but not this music. Put this one my "too bad I can't see the choreographers dancing this routine instead" list (along with the Argentine Tango from earlier). Not that Cyrus isn't trying, and I've seen a hell of a lot worse jives from untrained dancers on DwtS. I give him major props for not falling on his ass on some of those moves. Now Nigel reveals that the dancers pick numbers and the dancers get to choose their routines. Cyrus says they picked "7" and Nigel said there were three routines left on the board. What were they?:

Foxtrot

Argentine Tango

Jive

Bollywood

We saw all those routines, so it's not like they had eleven to choose from and one was left over. So did they draw seven or six?

Alexa and Daniel w/Dee Caspary, "So Long My Friend" (Yanni): The music choice. Ouch. Foreshadowing much? This failed bigtime for me, in part because I don't like routines where the props upstage the dancers, and in part because like Adam said, it was cold. Watching it again, I can see places where just little changes in Alexa's hands could have made all the difference in the world, chemistry-wise. But my reaction to the number was pretty much the same as some of the competitive routines I've seen on the ice, where I want to shake the coaches and shout into their faces: "you thought this music would bring out the best in your skater? REALLY?" I don't know how much impact this number could have had, even if Alexa and Daniel (or any of the other dancers, for that matter) had been able to sell it more. But given some of the moves in there, this number could have left the judges hollering "hey! get a (bath)room!" -- and it didn't.

Tiffany and George, Foxtrot w/Tony and Melanie, "I Want to Be Loved by You" (Sinéad O'Connor):
Okay, if you can't see why the judges like George this week, you aren't looking. OMFG. And all the stuff I was complaining about with presentation and stage presence, that Nick didn't have in the Tango? Both George and Tiffany are bringing it here. They look as if they've been dancing together forever. They made it look so easy, and gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! What a pleasure to watch.

Interesting to me that so many of the moves like knee turns, that we've seen in earlier routines in unison, were done in sort of follow-the-leader style in this routine. I'll still like Joshua and Katee's Bollywood the best, I think, but this was fun, fun, fun.

Step Up Revolution number fills the spot where the judges might have needed to deliberate. Really great to see Twitch killing it at the end.

And the judges rescue: Whitney and Cheon.

Not surprised to see Nick in the bottom three. Disappointed to see Daniel go, but someone has to go every week, and he would have been out eventually. When I saw they had paired him with Alexa, I knew he was a goner. Tough luck, mate.

Not at all surprised to see Alexa in the bottom three. It's not like she wasn't warned about sleepwalking through her performances -- several times.

Edited to add:

So now we have Brandon Mitchell (the stepper) and Amber Jackson as new partners next week. Want to bet that we'll say "why weren't they partners all along?" once we see them together?

__________________
"The capacity of human beings to disappoint me is never ending." -- Ereth

I confess I spent the entire number trying to figure out which of the current choreographers was trying to channel Wade Robson, because I was pretty sure it wasn't Wade himself. It was NappyTabs. Fun stuff, and well-danced, but it made me miss RamaLama.

Me too. It definitely had a Wade feel to it.

I agreed with all of your review. The Bollywood was very entertaining, but not up to Katee & Joshua's. Of the dancers at risk, I was happy with who they rescued.

Poor Eliana. Cyrus has a great personality, but I really hope he doesn't hold her back.

Interesting reveal from Nigel tonight: the contestants draw numbers and get to CHOOSE their style from the backstage board -- that may explain why we were seeing numbers tonight by people performing in their own styles.

They mentioned this last week as well - I think Cat said it near the start of the show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by murgatroyd

Cyrus says they picked "7" and Nigel said there were three routines left on the board. What were they?:

Foxtrot

Argentine Tango

Jive

Bollywood

We saw all those routines, so it's not like they had eleven to choose from and one was left over. So did they draw seven or six?

If they drew 7, there would be four routines left (ten, minus the six done by numbers 1-6).

Is the order of selection necessarily the same as the order of performance?

BTW, not only did Cat score another Emmy nomination (and no Jeff Probst this year, but Betty White got nominated for Off Their Rockers), but the show did as well (for Reality-Competition Program, against The Voice, The Amazing Race, DWTS, Project Runway, and Top Chef - but not Survivor, Idol, or X Factor).
Three choreographers also got nominated:
Stacey Tookey (In This Shirt; Turning Tables; Heart Asks For Pleasure First)
Christopher Scott (Misty Blue; Velocity)
Spencer Liff (Whatever Lola Wants; Please Mr. Jailor; Where Do I Begin)
(the other two nominations went to DWTS and Smash)

BTW, not only did Cat score another Emmy nomination (and no Jeff Probst this year, but Betty White got nominated for Off Their Rockers), but the show did as well (for Reality-Competition Program, against The Voice, The Amazing Race, DWTS, Project Runway, and Top Chef - but not Survivor, Idol, or X Factor).
Three choreographers also got nominated:
Stacey Tookey (In This Shirt; Turning Tables; Heart Asks For Pleasure First)
Christopher Scott (Misty Blue; Velocity)
Spencer Liff (Whatever Lola Wants; Please Mr. Jailor; Where Do I Begin)
(the other two nominations went to DWTS and Smash)

I loved the Misty Blue number.
One of the non SYTYCD ones was for Travis Wall.

Is the order of selection necessarily the same as the order of performance?

Apparently not, because when Eliana picked the Jive, the Argentine Tango was still on the board, and the Argentine Tango was in the #3 position in the show order.

And I'd expect the producers to choose what order the numbers went in after the final dress or tech run-through, so they could make sure they had a show-stopper number at the end, and a strong number to open the show.

Edited to add: now wait a minute.

Look at the board.

Hip-hop with Christopher Scott

Contemporary with Sonya Tayeh

Argentine Tango with Miriam and Leonardo

Jazz with Sonya Tayeh

Lyrical hip-hop with Christopher Scott

Broadway with Sean Cheesman

Jive with Tony and Melanie

Contemporary with Dee Caspary

Foxtrot with Tony and Melanie

Bollywood with Nakul

Eliana drew #7 and picked from:

Jive with Tony and Melanie

Foxtrot with Tony and Melanie

Argentine Tango with Miriam and Leonardo

Bollywood with Nakul

See what I'm seeing?

#1: If Nick picked the Argentine Tango for himself, then that means he must have picked later than #7. I was assuming he had picked early and had snagged it for himself (and who could blame him, really?). I uncharitably thought that he had wimped out and wanted to stay in his own style. But no!

#2: by the time Cyrus and Eliana picked, look at what's still left on the board: all the ballroom routines, plus the Bollywood. In short: all the hard stuff.

There's 75% chance that by the time Nick and Amber chose their number, only ballroom routines were on the board.

So that means all the dancers in positions 1-6 are the cowards, and I owe Nick an apology.

Now I really, really, really want to know the order in which everyone picked.

__________________
"The capacity of human beings to disappoint me is never ending." -- Ereth

My experience is, it's impossible to try and learn the top 20 from scratch by watching the main show. I have to get to know some of them from watching the auditions and Vegas week first.

Anyway, this is one of the HUGE changeups this year: people get to vote for the dancers separately, not in couples. I really wonder how the outcome of previous seasons might have changed if this rule had been in place all along.

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"The capacity of human beings to disappoint me is never ending." -- Ereth

Thanks murgatroyd for doing the thread. My PC died Wednesday so I was knee deep in figuring that out. I took a break last night and watched and it was entertaining but nothing really memorable comes to mind.

i really don't know the dancers yet because i seriously thought it was 3 partners/pairs in the bottom six.

I have a feeling they decided to switch to "vote for individuals" because otherwise, how do you vote for a couple consisting of two people whose partners were just eliminated?

Question: are the routines shorter this year? Normally, it takes the entire two hours to do a group opening number plus 10 duets, but this time, they got them done in about 90 minutes.

Also, the way Nigel originally announced it when Fox announced there would be only one episode per week, the plan might have been to inform each dancer of their bottom six status immediately after their routine; IMO, the way it is actually done, by announcing them all at once after all of the routines, is much better, as you don't have dancers treating their routines as a "dance for your life" if they know they're in the bottom three (or, alternatively, "playing it safe" if they know they're not).

Thanks murgatroyd for doing the thread. My PC died Wednesday so I was knee deep in figuring that out. I took a break last night and watched and it was entertaining but nothing really memorable comes to mind.

No problem -- good luck getting your computer stuff worked out.

When you get a chance, do go back and watch the Foxtrot again. So nice. And George's turns are just unreal.

__________________
"The capacity of human beings to disappoint me is never ending." -- Ereth

Three choreographers also got nominated:
Stacey Tookey (In This Shirt; Turning Tables; Heart Asks For Pleasure First)
Christopher Scott (Misty Blue; Velocity)
Spencer Liff (Whatever Lola Wants; Please Mr. Jailor; Where Do I Begin)
(the other two nominations went to DWTS and Smash)

Thanks, the list of Emmy nominations I saw didn't have the choreographers listed, and I honestly couldn't remember who did the ones listed. I'll have to go back and take a look at what those routines actually were at some point.

I think they are 'stuck' with the same partners until one of the duo is eliminated. Then they get paired with the other lone dancer whose partner was eliminated.

Yes. This is intentional. They tried random partners in the first season or two, switching after each week, but after too many mismatches, they let the producers and choreographers decide on the initial couples (as I like to say, "Do you think Twitchington was an accident?"), and if a week's eliminations are from two different couples, they pair up the survivors.

NEW YORK – May 24, 2012 – Oxygen Media will premiere "All the Right Moves," a new one hour docu-series following the tight knit friendships and lives of four of the most successful and sought-after dancers in the industry, on Tuesday, July 31 at 11PM ET/PT.

The world of dance is fiercely competitive, but with careers, reputations, and friendships at stake, Emmy®-nominated choreographer Travis Wall ("So You Think You Can Dance"), Teddy Forance (recently featured on "Dancing With the Stars" as dancer and choreographer), Nick Lazzarini (winner of "So You Think You Can Dance" season one), and Kyle Robinson (Julliard-trained and recently featured on "Dancing With the Stars”) band together to take this art form to a whole new level by launching the dance company SHAPING SOUND. Through blood, sweat, and tears these lifelong friends and roommates are determined to come together and make this venture a success, giving background dancers a chance to shine.

It's showing up in the Guide Data now. WARNING! the movie All the Right Moves is also showing on Style network, so be sure you've got the listing for the show on Oxygen.

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"The capacity of human beings to disappoint me is never ending." -- Ereth